October 24, 2022
Going home and tour wrap up
Let me start by saying how wonderful it has been to receive everyone's comments to our blog. We really enjoy reading them and are thrilled that there is an interest in our tour. We apologize that responses are so infrequent but sad to say that our tech skills as well as our time management need improvement. We really get a sense of comradery growing in the cycleblaze community and it feels great to be accepted as part of it. Again, thank you to everyone that followed along.
We liked Geneva. But for Canadians it is expensive, there is no denying that. It is a busy city, but its relatively small size makes it easily approachable. If you stay near the airport, which is handy, the Geneva city center is only three kilometres away. The airport itself is easy to navigate as it is also small - stats show they handle 1 million fewer passengers annually than our local airport- YVR. Geneva also provides free public transit to people staying in their hotels. Finally, Geneva is well located to access France, Switzerland or Northern Italy - each offering a multitude of touring opportunities. We will definitely be keeping an eye on the Swiss Franc exchange rate and plan on heading back there one day.
With all the above you will have likely guessed that the travel from Geneva went well. Our flight departed around 1 pm, which is a very civilized time, so we arranged a taxi for a 10:30 am pick up. The taxi was bit early but the airport was not at all busy and we were able to check in, drop our bags and get through security in 30 minutes. We had plenty of time to enjoyed our $15 CAD coffees and make our way through customs and to the gate.
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Flying home always seems so much longer than getting there. There are many valid reasons for that I am sure, but by the time the taxi dropped us off at our house we had been up for about 20 hours - which is a long day. But everything went as well as it could. You just have to chalk any discomfort from air travel up to the cost of all the fun we have had in the past 5 weeks!
We were very pleased with the entire tour. The bikes performed well again. Not a single flat was recorded and no serious mechanical issues. We are happy with the Fridays and plan to continue replacing the bike's components as they wear. As much as the current bike technology performs so much better, I am coming to the conclusion that the beauty of the older Friday's is in the bike's simplicity. Of course, the fact that they fly as baggage without charge has meant they have now likely paid for themselves a couple of times over, is also a bonus. We are not sure though how long we can continue to ignore the E bike craze. "Normal" bikes are definitely not the norm in Europe anymore. And if batteries were permitted on aircraft, one member of the team would likely already be there!
This tour involved riding in three countries and might be viewed as three sections, although Italy was really intended as the focus for this trip. Switzerland's cycling infrastructure is beyond compare. The roadway design from backroad to highway always has a well-marked designated area for cyclists and the drivers never seem to be at odds with providing priority. We only cycled four days in Switzerland but can see organizing a much longer tour in this country.
It was a startling adjustment as we began cycling on the roads in Northern Italy. We found that 1) the tertiary road network is not very large and therefore the roads can be very busy with cars 2) rarely are there designated cycle paths on the road network, and 3) in general, we found Italian drivers drive fast and seem to have less regard for cyclists than their European neighbours. They may move over as they pass, but their foot never leaves the accelerator! Our experiences here demanded that we be savvier with route planning and finding further afield, smaller, less traveled roads. This did help, but we always needed to come back to a main road eventually.
Having said that, we loved our time in Italy. The Italian Lake District is beautiful but weather risks did have us scramble our schedule a bit. We would have liked to stay a few days longer here. In the Piemonte, all the towns we stayed in were great except maybe Alexandria - we would pass on that one. Our stay in Neive was a wonderful as well as Saluzzo and Cuneo were real high lights. Down by the Mediterranean, the Italian Rivera, we encountered more cycling challenges but again we loved all the seaside towns. This part of the Italy is a wonderful place to visit in the shoulder season, as we can see it being extremely busy in the summer months.
Moving on to France - with the exception of our ride from Menton to Nice, most of our rides were further north around the Savoie region of France. Riding in this area of France was also great and provided just a taste of what this area can offer as many Cycleblazers have already discovered. We will be back.
That just about wraps it up. 35 days, 1200 kms, 11K metres, one broken camera, one lost cell phone, too many selfies to count and a lot of laughs. Hope to see you again next time.
As a final postscript. Two days after arriving back home Scott fell ill which was later determined to be Covid. We will never know, but the source could have been one of the flights. Four days later he is bouncing back but Pat has now been stricken, thanks to Scott. What a team.
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We spent 8 weeks in Italy and finally got used to the drivers. I had a couple of close passes but those happen in Vancouver too and I think Italian drivers have a better idea of the width of their car than so many here at home.
1 year ago
Do plane passenger no longer have to use masks?
Anyway I enjoyed your journal.
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shadybrook at shaw dot ca
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